BrahMos missile test-fired from warship INS Kolkata

1.  BrahMos missile test-fired from warship INS Kolkata

i. India today successfully test-fired the 290 km-range BrahMos supersonic anti-ship cruise missile from the country’s largest indigenous warship INS Kolkata off the coast of Karwar in Karnataka.

ii. INS Kolkata is the first of its class of warships in the country and is undergoing extensive trials before its planned induction into the Navy in July.

iii. The missile was test-fired from INS Kolkata, which is a new ship under Project 15-Alpha series, off the coast of Karwar this morning and all the parameters were met during the test, defence officials told.

iv. The Indo-Russian joint venture BrahMos Aerospace has developed several variants of the missile for different kinds of warfare and is now developing a much-faster hypersonic version of the weapon system.

2.  Daniel Ricciardo wins Canadian Grand Prix

i. Daniel Ricciardo won the Canadian Grand Prix on Sunday, breaking the Mercedes stranglehold on the Formula One circuit.

ii. The Red Bull driver earned his first Formula One victory and the first win this year for any driver other than Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton. Ricciardo passed Rosberg, the points leader and pole-sitter, with two laps to go. Hamilton went out in the 48th lap with a brake problem.

iii. Ricciardo may finally be coming out of the shadow of his more celebrated Red Bull teammate, the four-time defending Formula One champion Sebastian Vettel. The 24-year-old Australian now has two fourth places, two thirds and a victory in his last five races.

3.  Nadal holds onto No. 1; Sharapova up to No. 5

i. Rafael Nadal has held onto the ATP’s No. 1 ranking thanks to his ninth French Open title.

ii. Maria Sharapova’s second trophy at Roland Garros moved her up three spots to No. 5 on the WTA list on Monday.

iii. If Nadal had lost Sunday’s final to No. 2 Novak Djokovic, they would have swapped places in the rankings.

iv. No. 3 Stan Wawrinka and No. 4 Roger Federer also stayed put, but Andy Murray climbed from No. 8 to No. 5 by reaching the French Open semifinals. First-time major semifinalist Ernests Gulbis jumped seven places to a career-best No. 10.

v. In the women’s rankings, No. 1 Serena Williams and No. 2 Li Na didn’t move despite early losses in Paris, while runner-up Simona Halep rose one spot to No. 3.

4.  Pradeep Chandra's 'Aamir Khan: Actor, Activist, Achiever' book launched in Mumbai

i. Dalip Tahil, Pritish Nandy, Prahlad Kakar and may others were spotted at the launch of Pradeep Chandra's Coffee table book 'Aamir Khan: Actor, Activist, Achiever' in Mumbai.

ii. Speaking at the event, Pritish Nandy said, "Aamir is a great actor, famous activist; he has done some remarkable movies.  And he is a remarkable man.  But this book is more about a man who has paid tribute to Aamir Khan ."

iii. The book published by Niyogi Books is a pictorial biography that contains rare pictures of the actor.